“They think that I am creepy, mysterious and spooky, all together ooky, and I was on the Addams Family. I am Raul Julia, famous stage and screen actor from Puerto Rico.”
Before the Addams Family movies, one of my most famous works was the play Dracula. I can remember the opening night. The excitement in the room was contagious. All of the actors were getting ready and I was going to my dressing room at the far left from the door. Walking in, the dressing room was white with a high ceiling and had tiles of a rainbow going around the middle of the walls. On the left side near my dressing room there was a makeup counter where the actor playing the character Lucy was getting ready.
“Knock ‘em dead tonight, Dracula!” she said.
“I vwill do my very best, my lady.” I said in my best practiced Dracula voice.
To my right, the actor of Dr. Van Helsing was washing his face. “I vwant to suck your blood, Friend Jon. How do you get your W’s to sound so good?”
“Lots of practice, my friend. I say all of the W words: vwater, vwashing, vwhite, vwhere!”
Finally, I arrived at my room. Preparing my costume for the big show: a white button up shirt with trousers with a black and red cape. Dracula’s fangs laid in the sink. Watching those teeth sitting in the sink began to bring back the memories. Memories of a life in Puerto Rico. Memories of watching my mother sing with her beautiful teeth showing to our whole congregation while she was in the church choir. My first performance as a 1st grader, a devil in my school’s play. Playing a monster now is like meeting an old friend.
The first act was about to go up. My hands were shaking really badly. As the scene continued to play out, my moment was coming up, the feeling of dark rage and thirsting for blood rose through my body and I felt as if I was becoming Dracula, feeling the character I was portraying. I walked on stage with all the lights on my face and it took all my will not to run off from nerves. I climbed into the carriage, picked up Jonathan Harker, and took him to my castle where I would hold him captive for months. Jonathan and I would have similar storylines. I felt trapped in Puerto Rico and needed to leave.
“Do your best, Raul. We want to see you in the movies one day,” he said as I was boarding the airplane to America.
“I will, Papa,” I responded with tears in my big brown eyes, knowing my life would never be the same again.
The next couple of scenes went by smoothly. I had the power to call a pack of werewolves just by raising my hand. I could turn into a bat, a werewolf, and control the undead. I could scare the wits out of poor Jonathan Harker just by saying, “My friend, we will start to send three different letters to your family.” When the cargo ship landed at Whitby, I controlled the weather and killed every sailor. Even though I was only playing the character, I felt a rush of power that playing Dracula sent through my body. This power and rush can only come from the great lengths I went into to become the character. Not unlike the amount of time I have spent on stage. I would actually do double duty when I first arrived to America, rushing across Central Park to go from one show to the next.
When I think about my time as an actor, Dracula seems to sum up my career in so many great ways. Everyone knows the name of Count Dracula. Everyone knows about the fangs and the blood. Even though I know I wasn’t the monster, playing him was one of the first great successes I would experience in acting, a career that would span nearly three decades. A career where people might know my name as well as a monster.